Playing Pretend
by Koalagriton
Summary: Donatello is stuck on plant-watering duty while April is away. He's always liked her clothing and that coat looks like it would fit on him... maybe he could just... just this once. Not like April is going to suddenly come back early and catch him wearing her clothes, right? Haha...


Donatello leaned his hip against the sink as he held up the small watering can to the tap in April's kitchen and waited for it to fill, relying on the noise rather than try to see the water level. Watering her plants and taking care of her mail wasn't exactly what he'd consider a fun activity to do while she was away hunting for antiques on the west coast. Even though Splinter had asked him and his brothers to take turns doing this favour for April, Donatello had taken it upon himself to make sure it was done properly.

Michelangelo would probably miss some of the plants or not pay attention to what he was doing and water some of them twice and others not at all. Raph would only bring in her mail and notice things he was interested in and not if there was anything important like payments or bills that needed taking care of. Leonardo would probably do a decent job of both but he couldn't double his portion of tedious house chores on the sole premise that his other brothers didn't do things exactly the way Don wanted them done. So it ended up being only him.

It wasn't that he was doing it to be the only receiver of thanks from April or to get her attention. _Though that would be wonderful._ He sighed, breathing in deeply as he stepped into her room where her scent was strongest, if a bit faded from her time away. He wasn't going to tell her about this, it would only be embarrassing. What would he even say?

Lost in his distracted thoughts he backed into a small dresser with a dull thud as his shell hit the edge and made it tilt. He whirled around, too late to catch a glass perfume bottle as it tipped over the edge. He caught it with the top of his foot and settled the furniture back down gently on its four legs with a flat palm on the surface.

He exhaled and set the watering can down, reaching the wall near the door to turn on the lights and tidy up anything else that had fallen over. He knelt and began picking up a few small containers from the floor: soft smelling powders, creams and other cosmetics he wasn't sure what they were used for but he had smelled on April at one time on another.

Knowing he had privacy and time, he indulged in his curiosity and opened a few, poked, prodded and sniffed at some, even lifted his mask and dabbed a little something from a tube that said was to remove bags from under the eyes. He decided to do only one and then compare later if there had been any of the miraculous results the label claimed.

 _It's for science_. He lied to himself as he picked up another small jar of cream meant to repair and rejuvenate lips. "Leaves lips healthier-looking and more beautiful than ever by helping to strengthen your lip's delicate moisture barrier. Huh." He was unaware that lips had a moisture barrier that needed to be strengthened. Surely skin was a moisture barrier on its own. He applied a coat nonetheless.

Done with the cosmetics he picked up a silk scarf and rubbed it between his fingers. It was lavender and felt like water against his skin. He pressed his face into the silky material and inhaled the scent that was a mix of April's soap, perfume and her own. When he lifted his head he noticed the fabric had caught on the sticky sheen of his now moisturised lips.

"Oops!" He opened up the scarf to make sure he hadn't stained it and realised he wasn't holding a scarf but a simple dress. "Purple always looks so good on you." He whispered to himself, blushing at the double meaning behind it and biting back the unnecessary apology but saying it in his head anyway.

His eyes noticed his own reflection in an ornate full length mirror that stood against the wall on the other side of the room. The way he was holding the item of clothing in front of him it almost seemed as if he were trying it on. His blush deepened as he held it up a little higher and against his plastron, shivering slightly as the silk brushed the more sensitive skin of his thighs. He turned slightly in the mirror to see his profile and sighed ruefully. The dress would never fit over his shell.

"Not... that I would... That would be rude, right? Trying on someone else's clothing while they were away..."

He folded up the dress and put it on the dresser where he figured it might have been left and decided it was time to head back, but his feet didn't budge from the spot and his eyes were glued on the closet door. Back when they were children they'd sometimes go to the surface with their father to dig through donated clothing bins as they were getting ready for the colder months. He and his brothers quickly turned it into a game of dress up, fantasizing they were different people or heroes or soldiers, depending on what they could imagine from the items they found.

* * *

"I'm Superman!" Michelangelo exclaimed, striking a heroic pose with a red and white polka dotted handkerchief tied around his neck.

"It's too short and there's white in it. It doesn't count, find something else." Leonardo, self-appointed costume judge, stated as he put his head through an oversized grey t-shirt that covered his arms and legs completely and fit a cracked plastic bucket on his head he'd found amongst some broken toys that were left to throw away in the morning. "I'm a knight!" He called out.

"You're always a knight, pick something different." Raphael, self-appointed judge of costume judges, scolded before squealing happily at a box he found full of colourful hats.

Donatello ignored them as they all ran to sift through Raph's amazing discovery evading his complaints and efforts to keep them away from his find. He'd been picking through the clothing and separating different items: silky, soft, slightly furry and others that had a sheen and changed colour when held up to the light. He gasped softly, covering his mouth so the others couldn't hear when he saw the edge of something white, sheer and very long.

There was an intricate lace trim around the edge and he examined the design closely, the rest of the delicate fabric bunched up and pressed against him between his arms. On a whim he put it over his head, pulling on it until it hung loosely in the front and trailed behind him. His fingers brushed over the material from inside as he lifted his arms to feel it slide over them.

"What are you supposed to be?" Leonardo asked him, peering at him curiously from under a dark grey fedora.

"I'm a..." _A bride._ "I'm a ghost!" He replied after hesitating.

Satisfied with his choice Leonardo ran off to tell his brothers they had to run from the evil spirit that was after them, instigating Donatello to chase. He did, laughing and pretending not to be more pleased with the way the cloth billowed behind him instead of the game they were playing.

* * *

Hesitantly he opened the closet door and ran his hand across the items that hung inside it, his heart beat increased and he felt the sort of childish wonder he did back when they used to play dress up. "Maybe it'll be okay if I leave everything exactly as it was." He considered, as he pulled out the first item of clothing.

To make sure he would put everything back in the appropriate order he pulled items one by one, leaving them on the bed in a neat stack to be placed back afterwards. Most of them he just held up to his body in front of the mirror, he was too big to fit into April's size and settled on just running his fingers through them or pulling on a sleeve. He grinned when he found a long furry brown coat with thick trim. It was probably synthetic but still very soft and it looked like it could... No, it _did_ fit around his shell.

He pulled the fur close to his face, covering his neck and cheeks in the softness and hugged himself as he breathed April's scent happily. Turning this way and that in front of the mirror he looked at himself, smiling at how amazing and warm it felt, wondering vaguely if it would be weird if he tried to find one of these for himself. If he could come up with an excuse that wouldn't raise suspicions. It was a very warm coat after all...

He forgot about that as he posed, ignoring how big it made him look. That didn't really matter. "Better hurry up or I'll be late for the opera." He whispered to himself, so fully enthralled by his fantasy that he didn't notice anyone behind him until he saw their silhouette in the doorway through the reflection in the mirror. He yelped and turned around to come face to face with a very confused April.

They stared at each other for a moment, neither knowing how to react. "I can explain!" He said suddenly making them both jump at how loud and frightened his voice sounded.

"Late for the opera, huh?" April asked him when no explanation came forth, her eyes darting from the coat, to the purple silk dress he was wearing as a scarf to the clip-on earring he had attached to the sides of his mask roughly where his ears were and then settled thoughtfully on his green feet that poked out from the bottom of the long coat.

Donatello hung his head in shame at being caught and overheard. It wasn't like he could explain _that_ away. He began forming an apology in his head, preparing himself to be asked to leave and never come back as he unbuttoned the coat to pull it off when April stepped forward and stilled his hands with her own.

"I think I've got the perfect shoes for the opera." She told him with a brilliant smile on her face and then began to dig through a chest at the foot of her bed.


End file.
